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Baird's railway bared

Baird's private railway connecting the Muirkirk and Glenbuck iron works ran from left to right across this picture, parallel with the A70 road halfway up the picture, but here there is no trace except for these two bridge abutments isolated in a field of sheep. In about another quarter of a mile it would have turned to the north, crossed the A70 and then turned east again to follow alongside the road into Glenbuck village. The River Ayr currently runs across the foreground, invisible to the camera, but there is evidence both on the ground and on early maps that it has altered its precise course a number of times over the years on this flat ground. The Muirkirk Canal, principally provided to take water to the Muirkirk iron works to drive machinery, left the river at sluices just out of the picture to the left.